Visionably Check · free · no account
Your PDF accessibility checker
Is your PDF accessible to PDF/UA and WCAG 2.2? Check it in seconds: every problem outlined on the page, a fix for each, and pass or fail for every criterion.
Checking without uploading? Run it on your own machine.
This checker is outloud, our open-source tool. On Mac, Windows or Linux it does everything this page does, with nothing leaving your computer. pipx install outloud, then outloud --view.
What the check gives you
Every problem, on the page
Each finding is outlined where it sits: the image with no description, the table with empty headers, the sentence a screen reader will skip. Beside it, the page as a screen reader would read it.
Pass or fail, by criterion
All 55 WCAG 2.2 A and AA success criteria and all 31 PDF/UA checkpoints, each marked pass, fail, warning, not applicable, or needs a person, with a note on what to look at.
A fix on every finding
One sentence on what to change, written for the person who has to change it. Download the full report as JSON to hand to your team or your vendor.
Checks the validators cannot make
Standard validators test that the structure is legal: an image has an alt-text key, a table has header cells, headings do not skip levels. They cannot tell you the alt text is a file name, the header cells are empty, or a paragraph is marked as decoration so every screen reader skips it.
This checker runs those validator checks, calibrated to agree with veraPDF on every file in its test corpus, and then 35 more on whether the tags say anything true. It is built on outloud, our open-source checker, so anyone can see exactly what it tests.
If it fails
We fix PDFs. Properly.
Visionably Docs remediates documents to PDF/UA with a human check on every file, priced per page. Send us the result link and we quote from it.
What is an accessible PDF?
A PDF that a screen reader can read the way a sighted person reads it. That takes an invisible structure layer: headings a reader can jump between, tables whose cells know their headers, images with a description, a reading order that matches the page, and a title and language the software can announce. Most PDFs have none of it, because most tools do not write it unless asked.
PDF/UA is the ISO standard for that layer, and WCAG 2.2 is what the law in most countries points at. This checker tests both, and marks what a person still has to judge: whether a description is accurate, whether the reading order makes sense.
Why it matters now
India
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 requires accessible information and services, and in November 2024 the Supreme Court made its accessibility standards mandatory. Government sites follow GIGW 3.0, which adopts WCAG.
Europe
The European Accessibility Act applies from June 2025 to private-sector products and services, and it covers the documents they publish, not only their websites.
United States
The ADA Title II rule requires state and local government web content and documents to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, with the first deadline in April 2026. Section 508 already binds federal agencies.
Questions
- Is my file stored?
- For up to 24 hours, so the result link works, then it is deleted. Nobody at Visionably looks at it unless you send us the link.
- Does it fix the PDF?
- No. It tells you what is wrong and where, and what to change. Fixing is a separate job, ours or yours.
- Is a pass a guarantee?
- No. A pass means the automated checks found nothing. Criteria that need a person, such as whether a description is accurate, are marked as needing a person.
- Can I run it myself?
- Yes. The same checker is free and open source:
pipx install outloud, thenoutloud --view. Nothing leaves your machine.